Looking around, face emotionless, Harita spread his presence, heightening his awareness.
"There." Bian pointed to a secluded, twisted alleyway littered with hobos and beggars.
By now, most of the small squad he managed to scrounge up had gotten somewhat used to the depressing scenery, the fear and depths overly familiar to them by this point.
He nodded, then shifted his gaze elsewhere, to the secluded corner, and ignited Manavision. His green, feline eyes alight, Harita noticed a few presences inside the ramshackle building; two of them Adorned.
There could have been Insigs around, but he had no way to know that. Unlike Adorned, Insigs had no mana to trace and peer into. Of course, the former could have also just concealed their mana—which meant that a handful of tricky and crafty Rogues was bound to ambush them from the shadows.
Looking back at the team of eight—excluding himself and Bian—Harita placed his hand behind his back and looked forward, beyond the people at his command, and said in a proud tone:
"Knight Elijah, you take charge of the Squires and head south of here. Use Bian's directions as a guide, keep vigilant at all times, and be ready for anything. Your in the slums now, the law is weak here; only power matters. If the situation calls for it, use force. But don't make it a priority.
"You two… Mages Bek and Sekiro… right? Guard Adorned Edsin. Keep her close, she's new to this. Now: Disperse!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" The Squires and Knight Elijah echoed.
The Mages and Adorned simply nodded, then went on their merry way.
The Order marched the opposite way.
Sighing at the display, Harita looked back at the ramshackle house and nodded to Bian.
She reciprocated, then explained again, "One of my contacts is in there. Goes by Culler. At least, that's where I heard last. He knows this place from the slums like the back of his hand."
"…And if anybody can help us gather information, it'd be him," Harita finished, reaching for the doorknob…
But before he could, the door suddenly swung open, and two cloaked figures stepped out, their faces completely shadowed by their pulled hoods.
Following an instinct, Harita ignited Manavision for a second, taking another look. In that infinitesimal moment, he managed to make out a star-shaped mark at the corner of one of the cloaked figure's left eye.
Deactivating Manavision, Harita lowered his head and left the two alone. He hadn't gathered much, but it was something. He just didn't know what kind of something… yet.
Twisting the knob, he entered Culler's ramshackle abode. A manic grin spread across his face.
'Let's see what this place has in store, shall we?'
◇◆◇◆◇
An annoyed voice resounded, hushed and whispered.
"Let. Me. Go."
Supporting Umbra from the side, Lieren crept through the darkness, prowling like a primal predator. Though, judging by his current condition, his state was more akin to hiding prey: fearful and cowering.
With his battered wound only barely functioning with Fortification, anybody—even an Insig with a little know-how combat-wise could take him down with a well-timed strike. Granted, such a scenario was hard to imagine with Umbra around and her mysterious affinity with shadows.
After all, she had noticed his presence even in a sealed state.
"No. Stop being stubborn and just focus on the guards' shadows," Lieren retorted, expecting a retaliatory strike.
And it did, just in a shape mystifying to him. The shadows writhed, ebbed, and coalesced beneath his feet, taking the form of a hand and grabber his ankle… well, tried to, at least.
His senses may have been dulled from pain, stress, and pressure, but his mind kept functioning the same. He wasn't exactly at his best form, but it was enough to spare some concentration here and there for any immediate enemies.
With a light step, he skipped over the shadow hand and pulled her closer, leaning back against the shadowed wall. Lieren held his breath. Experienced, Umbra did the same; no nagging involved.
*Tap**Tap*
The pitter-patter of footsteps resounded down the hall at a fork in the dungeon, and two guards—one of them carrying a lantern—walked past them, chatting, nescient to their presences.
Still holding his breath, Lieren looked forward and leaned closer to Umbra. If, in any way, that her concealment spell worked using proximity, then it would benefit him most to stay as close as possible.
*Tap…*
The pitter-patter grew farther and father, and the two emerged from the shadows, only to be blanketed by them a moment later. This seemed to be a restriction to Umbra's concealment.
A whisper resounded.
"…close"
"What was that?" Lieren mused.
Umbra grimaced and looked away. "You're too close. I'll expand my concealment, so keep your distance."
He frowned. Was she crazy?
"No, that'll just make you expend even more mana. We need that. Just… bear with it for now."
Peeking around the corner, Lieren stepped into where the two guards came from and practically dragged Umbra along.
Noticing her repulsed expression, he mused, 'Is she in an introvert or something? Weird, she sounded so confident and reliable back in the cells… What happened?'
Threading even further into the darkness, Lieren and Umbra ventured deeper into the dungeon.
◇◆◇◆◇
Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty looked down at an unassuming red house, sandwiched by two other identical abodes. Taking a sip of his tea, Sherlock pulled out a pocket watch, and closed it immediately.
He didn't even time to check the hour. Taking stand, he buttoned his coat and carried a black cane, sauntering confidently like one of those nouveau riche entrepreneurs and entered the unassuming red house together with his partner, his eyes frowning.
No words were necessary.
Lifting his leg, Moriarty kicked the door open, attracting attention of many onlookers, but not as much as the following screech from deep within the slums. The two entered with grim looks on their faces.
And then, the expressions fell like an anvil, turning cold and menacing.
Another figure sat on a velvet chair in front of them. With a mocking air and conniving eyes, the man said through a fat smile:
"Why, welcome back, dear patrons. What shall it be today? Narcotics? Assassinations? Or. Would. You. Like. Information…?" He said, upbeat.
◇◆◇◆◇
Something was very off.
Passing through another tunnel, Lieren Enhanced his hearing. He had long deactivated Manavision, instead relying on the sparse lighting implements strewn across the dungeon walls.
At first, he considered taking one, but Umbra scolded him otherwise.
"You'll give away our position and limit my abilities," she warned, frowning. She still looked tired beyond belief, cold and exhausted.
Whatever those spiraling runes did to her, the damage they dealt far surpassed the security used for its upkeep. Or maybe—and more unlikely—was that the runes were the effects of some spell instead of a ritual. It was a stretch, or it could have just been that the ritual itself required such a debilitating restriction.
Shaking the thoughts away, Lieren leaned his back on a dark corner when he picked up voices coming down the hall. Peering through the darkness, he noticed two figures walking down the hall, with one of them carrying a lantern in one hand as he chatted to the other figure accompanying him.
Then, they passed the two of them, nescient to their presences. When the lantern's light grew far enough, Lieren frowned and looked around, found Umbra through the shadows, and whispered:
"That's the fifth time we've passed this corner."
Through the thick shadows, he barely recognized her nod.
"Something's off."
There was, indeed, something off.
'No matter this dungeon's layout and infrastructure, something really is off. Five left turns. When we escaped from our cells, there wasn't a tunnel on the way before we reached the fork, meaning that even if we did take four turns in the same direction, it should have taken us elsewhere, not to the same place. We haven't found our cells again, either, meaning that this… this loop that we've found ourselves in did not start there.'
'Is this my fault? Did I cause this? Probably. I was the one who led our escape, falling into this trap, and taking her down with it. Now, Umbra has to suffer for it. Curses!'
Gritting his teeth, Lieren unconsciously formed a fist and tightened, looking away from Umbra—where he thought she was, anyway.
The enveloping shadows were still too thick to make out her face, even with the help of Manavision. Still, he didn't need it.
'I can already imagine the disappoint in her face.'
With a somber expression, he looked onwards.
"Sorry," he muttered, almost like a whisper.
But Umbra wasn't paying attention to him. Through the darkness, she looked up, then away and placed a hand on the dungeon walls, and sighed. For a moment, her figure staggered, falling.
But then, Lieren caught her, and she sighed again. Finding something humorous about that, she chuckled.
"This is a new low," she said, ridiculing.
For once, Lieren didn't feel that that was meant for him. Helping her stand, he looked around, then faced her.
"What now?" he asked, vexed.
There was still the looping corridor to worry about. For now, that was their first priority.
Resting her weight onto him, she whispered:
"This dungeon is looping, Lieren. And it isn't at the same intervals, either. Sometimes it's at short distances; sometimes not. The distance is irregular and crude, meaning that whoever is casting this is either too shrewd or a total beginner. The latter is unlikely, though; spatial magic is rather rare to begin with, and constructing something of this scale takes skill. Not just anybody can do it."
"…Then it's a new spell? An experiment, maybe. Based on my experience, magic—especially offensive spells—are better mastered through practical use. Could one of the Hatter's goon be doing this? Worse, is he the one doing this? Is he Manipulating the distance between our cell and the corridor?"
Shaking her head, Umbra heaved a heavy breath, perspiring. She didn't look too well.
"Are you okay?" Lieren asked, his tone subdued.
She leaned on him more, to the point where he had to be conscious not to topple over.
Though he was certain that Umbra was older than him, he still wondered about a couple of things.
For example: Why was she so short?
"I'm not short!" Umbra barked madly.
Lieren shivered. 'H—how did she know?!"
…After a while, she returned to the matter at hand.
"If the Hatter really was Manipulating distance, then those guards wouldn't have been passing through here. Projecting history—a moment in time—or a 'scene,' in other words, would be more likely. He could be projecting our history of walking through the hall, hiding from the guards, and rounding the corner over and over again. But, that wouldn't make any sense, either.
"My concealment has kept us hidden this entire time. Nobody could have seen us. And for him to project history, the Hatter would need to witness it firsthand. He hasn't done that, and so has no means to trap us in a loop like this.
"Therefore, this matter is spatial in nature. Manipulating space—something conceptual and non-living isn't something the Hatter can do. He can influence prisons of his own, but only to enforce rules that are already there. Something of this scale is simply beyond Mad Hatter's grasp."
Lieren tilted his head.
"So, it's a goon? Somebody strong?"
She nodded, agreeing. Then, she straightened her posture and looked at the end of the corridor, grimacing.
"…And it doesn't seem that it's just one spell, too. If so, then the restrictions should have been rather heavy, and we would have figured out the rules by now. Therefore, I conclude that this must be the work of multiple people working in unison, each keeping an aspect in check and functional."
"W—wow…" Muttering unconsciously, Lieren couldn't help but gape. "So smart…"
He hadn't thought about any of that.
"Hmph." Flipping her hair, Umbra grinned, smug. Then, her face turned serious.
"But that's the problem. Spatial magic is tricky, consequential, and complicated. Very few understand it, even I don't get it sometimes. And even less have spatial distortion spells. It's hopeless.
"At this rate, we'll just have to go through a couple few loops to figure out the conditions by testing various things."
At that point, Lieren beamed.
"Oh, perfect. I can distort space with my eyes," he said, smiling.
Deep within the enveloping shadows, Umbra frowned.
"You can what?" Squinting her eyes, she mocked, then shrugged.
She looked… tired. Very tired. Not even the enveloping shadows could conceal that.
"…Fine," she grumbled, then urged him to continue.
Lieren nodded and continued down the hall, finding himself in the same hallway and the same fork. Following an instinct, he stuck close to Umbra for concealment, their shoulders touching. Despite the apparent difference in age, their heights were almost the same.
And then, the familiar pitter-patter of footsteps resounded again. Umbra pointed to the two men and whispered quietly:
"There, behind them. Try there."
Nodding, Lieren peeked out his head for a moment, and his blue eyes glinted.
Space distorted, forming a hazy image of a crude arrow, exuding strange invisible ripples in space, warping the very air.
And then, a second later, a sudden shattering resounded, and the two men fell to the ground like broken marionettes.
"…Good job," Umbra whispered, impressed.
This time, it was Lieren's turn to plaster a smug grin on his face.